Playing Dirty
by catcher in the light
Summary: FE Fates. Spoiler-free. Takumi wants Corrin to come to him when she needs help, but his idea of a helping hand is a little different from hers. F!Corrin x Takumi.
**Corrin x Takumi is one of my favorite FE pairings, so I hope I did them justice in this piece!**

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"Oy, what are you doing?"

The sharp voice startled Corrin and she released the bowstring too soon, the arrow striking the tree beyond the target. She flexed her right hand, trying to hide its ache as she lowered the bow and turned around. Takumi stood with his arms crossed. He looked irritable, though that was his baseline mood at any given time.

"What's it look like I'm doing?" Corrin said. "I'm practicing my archery. The real question is, what are _you_ doing? Aren't you the one always fussing about surprising an archer with their bow drawn?"

"You're deflecting," Takumi said. She thought that sounded rather like a deflection itself. "Why are you going anywhere near a bow with your hand like that?"

She instinctively hid her hand behind her back before she realized how obvious that gesture was. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Did you think I wouldn't notice the bandage?"

"I just knocked it on something the other day and cut it a little, no big deal. You know how clumsy I can be."

Takumi grunted. "It wouldn't have anything to do with Kiragi, would it?"

"Why would it?"

"Stop being coy, I'm not our sons. Show it to me."

Corrin reluctantly held out her hand, allowing him to unwrap the bandage. Despite his scowl, his hands were tender, and when the bandage fell away to expose the deep cut in her palm, already seeping blood again, he pulled her with him to a bench. He pushed her down on it, and then knelt in front of her with clean bandages and a salve. Had he known this whole time and sought her out?

"Stupid," he said softly. He dabbed at the wound, then pressed gauze against it and squeezed her hand tight to stop the bleeding. "You have to let injuries like this heal before you do anything strenuous or you'll permanently damage it. It would devastate Kiragi far more if he discovered his beloved mother had ruined her hand because she was worried about his feelings than if he had known from the beginning."

"Were you watching?"

"Of course I was." He pulled the gauze away and began to apply the salve to a fresh bandage. "I'm always watching my family. Nothing brings me greater joy than watching the woman I love with the children we made together. So, yes, I was watching when Kiragi was trying to show off to you and ended up attempting some idiotic move that shaved a good inch off Azama's hair—and grazed your hand in the process. You didn't even flinch. You just assured him you were okay, stuffed your hand in your pocket, and went on your way."

Takumi finished tying the bandage, but didn't let go of her hand. It already felt better. He must have gotten the salve from Midori. He kissed her fingers, his lips warm.

"Don't hide your pain from me," he murmured against them. "Come to me when you're hurt, come to me when you need help. I'll heal all your wounds."

Corrin touched his pale hair, as soft as silk, and tucked a stray strand behind his ear. "I will," she said. "I didn't mean to worry you, I only wanted to keep it from Kiragi. I thought if he knew he'd hurt me, he'd lose confidence in his skill. He's far too good to do that."

"He is," Takumi said grudgingly.

Corrin pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. "Why, I'd say he's the best archer of his age."

"He is…"

"Perhaps even the best of all time."

"Excuse me! My sniping skills are unparalleled, and maybe he _is_ really good and has better vision than me by just a _hair,_ but I…wait, why are you laughing?"

"Because you're an idiot," she said fondly. "Competing with your own son—that's so like you."

Takumi gazed moodily up at her and she couldn't help but grab his face and smash his cheeks together. She giggled again at his murderous expression and kissed him. He was such a silly man, really, his prickly demeanor hiding a infinitely gentle heart. It seemed like another lifetime when they first met and he coldly denied her his friendship. How quickly the wilted sprout blossomed into a garden.

His cheeks were pink when she pulled away. "You don't have to do that so publicly," he muttered.

"Then can I do this?"

She kissed him again, except this time she pulled him up over her, so that he had to brace himself against the back of the bench to steady himself. She wrapped her arms around his neck, slipped her hand under his collar to touch the hard planes of his back. His own hand caressed her neck, sending shivers down her spine as his thumb traced her collarbone to the delicate hollow of her throat. When they finally parted, they were both breathing heavily.

"It's the middle of the day," Takumi said, making a big show of smoothing down the wrinkles in his clothes and fixing his hair. "We're Hoshidan royalty, we have to set an example. And your injury—"

"—is nothing."

Corrin pressed up against him and breathed in his scent, incense and honeysuckle soap and the wax he used on his bows. "You said I could come to you if I needed help," she whispered in his ear. "Well, dear husband, I am in desperate need of help—and from the feel of it, you are, too."

He made a strangled noise in his throat as she drew a teasing line up his thigh. He gripped her by the shoulders and held her away from him. "Enough, you—you—wanton! I'm beginning to think this was all just some elaborate ploy to seduce me!"

"Alas, my clever scheme has been discovered. I suppose I'll have to be…punished."

Takumi threw his arms in the air. "You're hopeless."

She clasped her hands behind her back and turned around, walking just a few feet before she glanced over her shoulder with a coy grin. "You better hurry, love, or I'll be forced to help myself."

"I won't succumb to such childish—"

"First one there gets to be on top!"

"Hey, wait a minute, you _cheated_ —"

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